Salmon fishing along the North Coast was a bit more difficult this week due to a couple of factors — stiff winds and the nasty chop that it creates on the ocean's surface.

Though conditions were not ideal and kept most of the smaller sport boats at home, the charter boats chugged through the slop and put their clients onto some pretty good salmon fishing. The wind that howled out of the north for two weeks straight earlier this month provided the upwelling and cool, nutrient-rich water that feeding salmon crave. There's a patch of dirty, brown water sitting out front of Eureka that's probably the size of a small city.

And now that some better weather is on the way, it's time for anglers to take advantage. The four or five boats that have ventured out daily have spent most of their days out and around the dumpsite, not wanting to venture too far from where the fish have been biting.

Getting the rest of the fleet on the water and spread out should really help in finding the large schools of hungry salmon that we all know are out there.

Weekend marine forecast

Conditions are slowly improving, with the swells finally starting to subside on Saturday. Out 10 nautical miles, tomorrow's forecast is calling for winds out of the northwest 5 to 15 knots with NW swells 6 feet at 10 seconds. Saturday's forecast is calling for winds out of the northwest 5 to 15 knots and 5-foot swells at 6 seconds out of the NW.

Sunday looks to be the best day, with winds 5 to 10 knots and swells to 5 feet at 11 seconds.

Statewide free fishing day

On Saturday, July 5, people may fish California's waters without a sport fishing license. All regulations, such as bag and size limits, gear restrictions, report card requirements, fishing hours and stream closures remain in effect.

On Free Fishing Days, every angler must have the appropriate report card if they are fishing for abalone, steelhead, sturgeon, spiny lobster or salmon in the Smith and Klamath-Trinity river systems. For more information visit, http://www.dfg.ca.gov/licensing/fishing/freefishdays.html.

Fish Lake kid's fishing derby happening June 28

The 40th annual Kid's Fish Lake Fishing Derby is taking place on Saturday, June 28 in Orleans. Registration starts at 7 a.m., the derby starts at 9 a.m. and ends at noon. It's open to kids from Pre-K to the 8th grade. Poles and tackle will not be provided, and an adult must accompany all children. There will be contests and prizes, along with face painting and fish printing.

The free event for kids is hosted by the Orleans Rod & Gun Club and the Six Rivers Orleans Ranger District with help from the Orleans Volunteer Fire Department.

Abalone season closing

Clamming

The clamming at South Beach in Crescent City was incredible over the weekend, according to Chris Hegnes of Englund Marine.

"It was as good as it can possibly get. The clams were showing in big numbers and everyone was able to get what they needed. The big tides moved the beach quite a bit, which uncovered a lot of sand that hasn't been touched," Hegnes said.

According to Justin Kelly of RMI Outdoors, a few limits were taken at Clam Beach, but not many.

"There aren't a huge number of clams there anyway, and the rough ocean certainly didn't help things. I heard the clams were pushed fairly deep," Kelly added.

The oceans:

Eureka

Despite some pretty lumpy water, the fishing remains solid for the Eureka charter boats, with most of the action taking place near the dump site in 200 feet of water. According to skipper Tony Sepulveda of Shellback Sport Fishing, there are some huge balls of krill keeping the fish in the area.

"With the breezy conditions, nobody has strayed too far, so we really don't know how big the body of fish is," he said. "Looks like with the great weather forecasted for the week to come, we'll get to find out."

Sepulveda took home big fish honors for the week with a 35-lb bruiser landed on Monday. Captain Tim Klassen of Reel Steel Sport Fishing, Gary Blasi of Full Throttle Sportfishing and Matt Dallam of Northwind Charters all reported good fishing the last few days, with limits or near limits daily.

"There's no real pattern to the fishing right now. We're catching em' from 100 feet up to 20 feet. They seem to be all up and down the water column," said Klassen. The dirty water runs from the beach out at least 12 miles, reports Blasi.

"That's a ton of water to cover with not very many boats. We're still getting chances at limits every day. The salmon are a good grade right now, though we're getting a few shakers too. Five of our fish on Monday went 20 pounds or better."

Trinidad

The salmon fishing has been pretty good, but it changes daily, reports Curt Wilson of Wind Rose Charters out of Trinidad.

"Monday was real good and everyone had limits," Wilson said. "Tuesday started out tough until someone found a school north of Patrick's Point, then it was quick limits. Once the weather lies down, the fishing salmon bite should explode."

"The rockfish bite is still steady. Right out in front has been a little hit or miss, so most of the effort has moved towards Patrick's Point," Wilson added.

Crescent City

The boats were back on the water Wednesday, but it was a pretty tough salmon bite, reports Chris Hegnes of Crescent City's Englund Marine.

"The water is still pretty cold out front, and there weren't many boats out looking. It may take a couple days to find some warmer water and the fish," Hegnes said. "From what I heard, there's tons of bait around, which is a good sign there's fish too. The rockfish action was really good on Wednesday, all the boats that I spoke with had limits."

The rivers:

Lower Klamath

The first real good push of springers began making their way up the Klamath last week, and a few have made their way to the falls on the Trinity.

The moss has eased up, and I'd expect to see more boats sitting on the anchor in the coming weeks.

Find "Fishing the North Coast" on Facebook for up-to-date fishing reports and North Coast river information. Questions, comments and photos can be e-mailed to kenny@fishingthenorthcoast.com.